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FG, stakeholders to reduce black carbon emissions by 83% in 2030
The Federal Government and Self Help Africa, an NGO, have initiated moves to reduce black carbon emissions by 83 per cent and methane emissions by 61 per cent by 2030.
Carbon and methane are climate pollutants.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security,
Mr Temitope Fashedemi disclosed this at a workshop on the Abatement of Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs) in the Nigerian Agricultural Sector project on Thursday in Abuja.
The inception workshop was organised by the ministry in collaboration with Self Help Africa, and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).
Fashedemi said that Nigeria was one of the few countries to highlight its commitment to reduce SLCP.
The permanent secretary, who was represented by Mr Osadiya Olanipekun, the Director, Agricultural Lands and Climate Change Management Services, said it was part of the efforts to mitigate the effect of Climate Change in the country.
“The project (SLCP) is to help reduce short lived carbon emission from agricultural waste.
“This will help to increase the adaptive capacity of farmers with the replacement of open field burning of agricultural waste with clean alternatives like conservation agriculture, and briquette making among others,” he said.
Earlier, the Country Director, Self Help Africa, Nigeria, Mrs Joy Aderele said SLCPs was an 18 Month pilot programme to work with 500 farmers to reduce open burning.
Aderele said that Gboko Local Government Area in Benue would be used as a pilot to demonstrate successful approaches to reducing open field burning.
She explained that the 500 farmers would be formed into 20 groups of 25 farmers each, selected from communities in Gboko Local Government Area.
Aderele said that other participants in the project included 45 agricultural extension officers across the geo- political zones in the country.
She said that the projects would facilitate strategic stakeholders’ engagement and capacity building of government agricultural extension officers and farmers.
Aderele said it was to enable the farmers and the extension agents to use best practices approaches to reduce the alternatives to open field burning while promoting Climate Smart Agriculture.
She said that one of the objectives of the SLCPs was to contribute towards Nigeria’s goals of Low Carbon Development and emissions reduction promoted as set out in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) document.
“The project will contribute to achieving the goals of Nigeria’s 2019 National Action Plan to Reduce SLCPs.
“This aims to reduce black carbon emissions by 83 percent and methane emissions by 61 percent by 2030,” she said.
News
Stop using repressive laws to intimidate journalists – SERAP, NGE tell FG
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, and Nigeria Guild of Editors, NGE, have called on Nigerian authorities at all levels of government to stop using repressive and anti-media laws to target, intimidate and harass journalists, critics and media houses.
The groups made the demand after an interactive session on ‘the state of press freedom in Nigeria’ held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Ikeja.
In a joint statement, SERAP and NGE said that, “the government of President Bola Tinubu, the country’s 36 governors and FCT minister must now genuinely uphold press freedom, ensure access to information to all Nigerians, obey court judgments, and respect the rule of law”.
They expressed concerns about the escalating crackdown on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom and the flagrant disregard for the rule of law by authorities at all levels of government.
The groups note that the suppression of the press in recent times takes various forms ranging from extrajudicial to unlawful detentions, disappearances, malicious prosecutions and wrongful use of both legislation and law enforcement.
The statement read in part: “We would continue to speak truth to power and to hold authorities to account for their constitutional and international obligations including on freedom of expression and media freedom.
“Nigeria as a country has a long and unpleasant history of press gagging and clampdown on media freedom, which is evidence of extensive state censorship of media and in some cases, the utter control of state-owned media houses.
“This position has not changed considerably despite almost 25 years of unbroken democratic rule in the Fourth Republic.”
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FG adds 625MW to national grid – Minister
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Tax: Court orders FCT-IRS agency to seal off defaulting coys
A Magistrate Court sitting in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, on Friday, ordered the Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) to seal off a company, Ifedi A.K. Nigeria Ltd, over allegations bordering on non-filing of annual returns.
The Magistrate, Janada Balami, gave the order after lawyer to FCT-IRS, Michael Towolawi, moved the application to the effect.
Towolawi told the court that the company had failed to file its annual returns from 2019 to 2023 in breach of Section 81 of the Personal Income Tax Act, LFN, 2004, and amended in 2011.
He said all efforts to make the company comply with the law proved abortive.
The lawyer, therefore, applied that the company be compel to appear before the court to explain why it acted in breach of the law.
Balami, who held that the application by the agency against the company had merit, accordingly granted same to seal the No 6, Rudolph Close, Off Katsina-Ala Street, Maitama, Abuja.
She, consequently, ordered the company, the sole defendant in the matter, to appear before the court on May 16.
The Director, Legal Services of the FCT-IRS, Festus Tsavar, told journalists after the proceeding that the service would move against companies that do not file their annual returns as provided by law.
“You know that we have a new minister in FCT that is doing a lot of projects and that hinges on money.
“And of course, you are aware that FCT has come out of TSA.
“So it is the internally generated revenue that will make the government of FCT to be able to do those projects completely within required time,” he said.
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